by teel 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
There was a P S , after discussing licence agreements they added
. Related to this, Christians should avoid putting onto, or downloading from, electronic bulletin boards material that is copyrighted (as are the Society’s publications) and that is being copied without legal permission from the owners.”
BINGO That is the reason for the QFR. Too many of the WT's CDs are being pirated and they aren't hauling in the cash for them
If it Looks FREE..
A JW will take Anything..
Thats not Nailed Down..
Screwed to the Ceiling..
Or..
Bolted to the Floor..
.................... ...OUTLAW
JWs used to call me all the time to help with their computers. Very few actually bought their software. Some were even stupid enough to ask for copies of mine. (yeah, right. I pay for software only to turn around and give it away free. grow a brain.) Many of these were elders who lived in nice large homes in the suburbs, and vacationed in the tropics twice a year, so they couldn't plead poverty as far as I was concerned.
I just make it clear that if someone doesn't have legal software on the original disks then I won't help them.
W
Personally I just buy a new computer when I want the latest version of Windows because it's a LOT cheaper that way. With the exception of Office, Project, and Visio all the software I use is free. I have no problems with free software... there's a lot of quality stuff out there that you don't have to pay a penny for. It just takes some trial and error to find the right stuff.
As for the non-free software on my computer it was all bought at a good discount. Microsoft gives out discounts these days like crazy... they know everyone can't afford several hundred dollars for their software and they would rather those people actually buy the software at a discounted rate than pirate it.
I think what really drives people to pirate software though is greed. They want to have the absolute best in everything whether or not they can afford it much less actually NEED it. Take Adobe Photoshop for example. That's one of the most pirated pieces of software out there, and why? How many of these people really need advanced photo editing features that aren't covered in free pieces of software like Paint.Net or Gimp?
The only thing I make an exception for is old versions of Windows. If you have an older computer it's not smart to throw a recent version of Windows on there and it's impossible to buy the old versions retail any more, although you might luck out and find a used copy for sale. Otherwise... I don't get pirating Vista and 7 and the like. It's not like they're going to run better than the old operating system you had on the machine (chances are they will run worse and may even have problems with the hardware as well) and you're really better off buying a new computer that already has them pre-installed and is guaranteed to have the right hardware to run them.
The bible doesn't say anything about copyrights, so it is a Satanic concept, a relic of this evil world. But all current WT pubs are copyrighted.
@ Nathan: Delightful!
making a mixtape/CD and giving it away was also stealing.
The law recognizes two distinctions: how you got the original material ("broadcast" into your home or purchased makes you the owner), and who you are giving it to ("fair use" allows a degree to sharing).
Torrenting is not a legal mechanism of ownership transfer. Anonymous giving or selling is not fair use sharing.
("broadcast" into your home or purchased makes you the owner)
hmm... really? I though the only "fair use" allowed is for the purpose of "time shifting": watching the original broadcast at a more conveinent time. I am guessing any alterations (including removing of ads) would be illegal.
and who you are giving it to ("fair use" allows a degree to sharing).
This I would have to see in writing somewhere. Obviously lending a friend a legal DVD is fine, but I can't see any circumstance where making a COPY of a dvd and lending/giving it to a friend is anything other than copyright violation.
Anonymous giving or selling is not fair use sharing.
Right, but I don't see what anonymity has to do with it... any copying and giving to someone else strikes me as "redistribution", wether it's to your neighbor Bob or some random kids computer 2000 miles away.
[inkling] <--- is prepared to stand corrected
An elderly witness wanted to burn CD's on his computer. I had Nero7 and offered it to him. He said ok. When I borrowed the 2008 WT on CD he specifically told me NOT to copy it. Dumbass. W.Once
I don't think the argument that "JWs don't illegally copy material any more than any other group of people" is relevent, because JWs make a very big deal about the distinction between themselves and the rest of the world. I'm not saying that stealing becomes okay if you admit to being Satan up front, but there is an extra measure of wrong in doing it while at the same time trying to appear better.
I infer that there is somewhat of an attitude that, while certainly one should give unto Caesar what is Caesar's and all that, there is no reason to go out of one's way for Caesar either ... something to that effect.
BINGO That is the reason for the QFR. Too many of the WT's CDs are being pirated and they aren't hauling in the cash for them
Hm, interresting idea. You see, I mentioned that the QFR was missing from the romanian magazine. But back then there was no romanian library CD! Funny corellation...
